This New Digital Nomad Visa Could Net You a Second Passport

It’s like the rest of the world has just found out that Portugal exists. 

I am headed back to Lisbon in early November for a crypto conference. What’s crazy is that it’s the first of three crypto conferences all invading the Portuguese capital in short order. I mean, it’s not like Lisbon is Vegas or New Orleans, cities renowned for their conferences if only for attendees to lose themselves in the various vices and debauchery each of those towns is known for. 

It’s Portugal…this really cool, oceanside edge of Europe that until recent years was sort of the forgotten little sibling to Spain. 

But now? 

Now, Portugal is the understudy who has stepped out into the limelight. 

I’ve frequently written about Portugal here in Field Notes and in various stories for International Living. I vacationed there over the summer—in Lisbon, the southeastern wine country, and the beachy Algarve—with my wife, Yulia. It really is one of my absolute favorite countries…a place I would happily live. 

And now, Portugal is making that option even easier. It’s become the latest country to jump into the game for digital nomad visas. 

This flavor of visa started in the early aftermath of the COVID pandemic, mainly as a marketing stunt. But as hordes of employees have moved into the “remote worker” ranks, either for a company or out on their own, these visas have morphed into economic-development opportunities for countries that want those workers and their earnings. 

As such, each new digital nomad visa seems better than the last. 

I say that because I thought Greece had a really good version. And then Thailand recently released a digital nomad visa that might be a bit better…and now along comes Portugal with one that’s a bit better than Thailand’s. 

Portugal’s digital nomad visa launches on Oct. 30. The primary requirement is that you earn 4x the local minimum wage, which means proof of income over the last three months equal to about $2,750 per month. That’s not a high hurdle for lots of digital nomads. 

I should note here than Portugal already has the so-called D7 Visa, which is certainly quite popular and has some similar traits. But it’s based on proof of earning passive income, rather than income earned from working.  

With the new digital nomad visa, Portugal offers two options when applying: A temporary residence visa good for a year of living and working locally…or a residence permit that allows you to hang around for five years. That’s a fairly long validity period, given that all the European digital nomad visas I know of are good for one year and then renewable. 

The new visa also allows for Schengen-free travel across the European Union without having to worry about violating your 90-day tourist visa. That’s pretty cool. Even though I have a Czech biometric long-term residence permit in my wallet, I am still subject to the 90-day rule. So, bonus point to Portugal. 

But what I like most about this visa is that it dovetails nicely into Portugal’s five-year residency requirement necessary before applying for citizenship and a second passport. 

That has long been my Holy Grail: A second passport from an EU country because it means I can live and work anywhere I want in the EU without all the rigamarole of applying for long-term residence visas everywhere I wanna be. 

And I wanna be in a lot of places in Europe, frankly.  

I love the lifestyle on this continent and this is where I want to retire. I am, however, a peripatetic soul by nature. I search out change and new adventures. 

I want to keep a life grounded in Prague since this is such a fantastic city. Then again, I want to spend time living in Greece and Spain…and Italy and the Bordeaux region of France…and Portugal’s Southern California-like Algarve. 

A second passport would make that possible. 

And it might just be easier for me to accomplish that through Portugal because of the language requirements. 

Both Portugal and the Czech Republic require that you pass a language test before you can get citizenship and a second passport. And honestly, Czech is one of the hardest languages I’ve come across. Indeed, the U.S. State Department ranks it as one of the most difficult languages for native-English speakers to learn.  

Portuguese is so much simpler and it’s closer to Spanish, in which I have a rudimentary foundation and which I’ve been able to pick up far more easily in my travels. 

To me, Portugal makes a lot of sense for people who want entrée into Europe and a permanent life here. And the new digital nomad visa seems like the perfect path to that.  

It now has me thinking…